25 Chapter 22: Niebla Blanca

"Where were we before?" Calista asked him after bringing her to the black city.

Sidapa looked at her exhausted and annoyed, but he kept it to himself.

" There are things best left unanswered," he said, " Don't ruin the night Lady Calista, too many questions could spoil my festive mood." He sighs, before leaving Calista alone in the throne room.

Sidapa walked alone in the dim-lighted winding hallway, towards his room. He took off his clothes and sat at the foot of his bed. He took out a book from the shadows and started reading. This book is Sidapa's favorite, Calista's life journal. He flipped through the pages and read from where he marked it last.

Books had always been Sidapa's favorite past-time, since he can't go out of Sulad that much due to a covenant he made and also, because of the hectic goings-on in his kingdom. There is so much work as the ruler of the underworld! Not to mention protecting his realm from the encroaching monster god, Buaya, who currently lurks in his bloody waters.

He's been going through the same page now. The parts about Tristan is a thousand pages long, full of pain and regret. It was longer than the ones he read before. But he cannot take his eyes out of it.

[January 1, 2013, 12:32 AM]

The new year began for me with heartbreak. I was out with Mae celebrating the new year when I saw Tristan with another woman. My heart sank to the bottom of my stomach. Seeing him with another woman sitting on his lap outside the bar.

They kissed torridly and laughed shamelessly for all the world to see. And here I am, his girlfriend, on the sidelines looking at them, disgusted and jealous. Sometimes, I wished I was her ( the girl on his lap).

Mae was livid when she saw him on the other side of the street. I did my best to restrain her and begged her not to make a scene. She was furious at him and disappointed seeing me. I felt such a low-life.

She grabbed me by the arm, with tears welling her eyes and dragged me home. I didn't make a fuss. We walked through the crowd where everyone's faces blurred but with portrait-worthy smiles and...

Oooh…

What's this? Are these tears? Is it?

It is! I guess it is.

My body felt weak, and I simply squatted at the middle of the bustling crowd and there, I broke down. I wept.

I felt Mae's tight embrace, trying to comfort me. I could hear her sobs; everything else felt numb.

I wish I were forever numb.

-Calista Andres, 2013

" Tristan, huh?" Sidapa smiles before lying down on his bed and closing his eyes.

That night, Sidapa dreamt of walking through an endless white haze. There were voices from beyond the thick blanket of vapor calling out to him. They were shouting, screaming in agony and at times weeping. They all call out to him. They call out his name, his real name.

Sidapa wakes up from the dream, out of breath and drenched in sweat. His head throbs as he tries to recall his dream. He was sure that he saw someone in his dream, who he thought would never return. His thoughts drifted away from the dream and went into his memories. The memories he thought were long forgotten.

He sat up on the bed and began to massage his temples to ease the pain. Tagahatid entered his room a moment later, greeting him and bringing him his breakfast.

" Pugay, Master Sidapa, you look unwell," Tagahatid commented.

" Spoiled my mood early today, eh?" Sidapa answers " Well, this is the first." he glares at Tagahatid intimidating him to comment further.

Sidapa's glare was enough to startle his shadowy alagad. Tagahatid silenced himself and proceeded to attend to his Master's morning routine without further comments.

After clearing up his morning routine, Sidapa went to the throne room where he was greeted by Obra, the alagad that cooks feast on Kumbirahan.

" Dearest Lord Sidapa! You honor me with your presence!" Obra greeted in her usual shrill voice, " Today's menu will be-"

" That's enough, Obra. All of you leave!" he commanded his alagads to leave him so he could be away with his thoughts.

The food looked amazing and appetizing but, to Sidapa, it was just, food. He didn't care for the taste, and he didn't care about the intricacies of it. He eats to sustain him for the day and nothing more. He finished his food silently while his mind drifted again on those memories he thought were long gone.

Tagahatid showed up again a few hours later. He greets Sidapa with a bow and intrudes his brooding time.

" Master, I apologize for disturbing you but, the people of Baranggay Dacungkahoy requests your audience," he reports.

" Oh! It's that time of the year again, is it?" Sidapa broke from his thoughts.

" Indeed, it is, Master." Tagahatid answers.

Sidapa is in a foul mood the entire morning and want to be there. But he is bound to his duty and not doing it could potentially hurt the Sulad in the future.

" Very well, I shall meet them." Sidapa rose from his chair and went straight to one of the portals heading over to the baranggay.

Dacungcahoy is a baranggay hidden from the bustling and hectic city life of Roxas. It overlooks the blue shores of Antique, surrounded by luscious green trees and vegetation. The people from the baranggay still follow the ways of the old, and their traditions are still intact to this day. Those traditions include their own beliefs and superstitions. Nature is part of their worship, and most of all, they worship the gods of old.

Sidapa came to the baranggay from an old balete tree that occupied six moderately size houses in measurement. The people of Dacungkahoy knew that their god was coming and had prepared to welcome him. The babaylan of the tribe came to him as she was the only one who could see him.

" Greetings, My Lord Sidapa," she prostates and kisses the ground where he was. " You honor us with your presence," she adds.

" I have no time for tidings!" he spats at the poor babaylan. " Stand, I will now use you as a vessel," he orders her.

The babaylan stood up and freed her arms into the open welcoming her god with no restraints. Sidapa takes an ethereal form and enters her body. The babaylan's body violently convulsed as it receives the divine presence. She drops to the ground frothing from the mouth with her body stiffening and arching as Sidapa finally settled within her.

Sidapa's experience was not pleasant, either. He loathes going into bodies of mortals as they tend to be very fragile. Every time he enters a body, he needs to be careful not to pass by the heart or brain as it might prove fatal to the person.

He stands up awkwardly making use of the body and with his loud voice announced his presence. The people of Dacungcahoy cheered and kissed the ground; he even saw some wept only by knowing his mere divine presence.

He spoke to them in their dialect, directing them on what to do for this year's festival. The feast will take place during the full moon, and he expects everyone to follow the festival rules, a standard that he keeps on reminding them. He also asked for a gift from the people to present to him during the festival, they obediently obliged.

After being content with everything he instructed them, he left the babaylan's body. The babaylan fell limp on the ground bleeding from the eyes, nose and ears. Sidapa glances at the fragile mortal with no sense of pity. He walked back into the portal smirking.

" What a weak knock-off."

Later that day, Sidapa toured around the quadrants making sure that everything was working in clockwork. As always, his visit ended uneventfully with the main highlight only was a kalag choking over his food. It was funny, but then he realized how bored he is to even laugh at a trivial thing. He loathed himself for that.

He sat in his throne, rereading the Calista's journal. The somber atmosphere of the afternoon didn't help his mood. The sun wasn't reliable today as it has itself within the clouds. It's rays dance around the throne room switching from dim to light and dim again.

His boredom has reached its peak that he left his book on the throne and decided to check on Calista. Sidapa knew where to find her. He knows because Tagahatid told him that she would be cleaning the light posts along the docks. Given his boredom, Sidapa decides to go invisible and spy on her from a distance.

He found Calista by the east end of the docks scrubbing the grime off the light posts. He went for a closer look. He observes her intently as she cleans the dirt stuck on the post. She reached the farthest of them and even refilled the fuel of some of the light poles. Sidapa was impressed by her dedication to her work. He stayed a little longer not even minding how terrible she sang as she cleaned the last post.

After cleaning the last light post, Calista finally decides to take a break. She put down her cleaning tools and took out her lunch basket. She sat at the side of the dock, eating her fill.

" Finally, she stopped singing," Sidapa whispered in relief. Calista was never a good singer. She cannot sing as he found out. Her voice assaulted his ears like nails piercing through them. If that wasn't enough, she is tone-deaf.

Sidapa only heard hummings and occasional lyrics from her, but it sounded so bad that it seems like her voice leapt away from every single note.

He finally decided to go back to the throne room. He walked back down the docks inspecting every light post cleaned by Calista. It passed with flying colors. Sidapa now contemplates as to what to do next with his new katabang. He debates in his mind whether it is time for her to visit the different quadrants of Sulad, or would it be far too early?

Sidapa was about to enter the hallway when he notices a strange fog appearing out from nowhere. It started faint, but a minute later, it became thicker and thicker, putting an opaque white blanket over the docks.

He knew this wasn't any fog. It never fogged over Sulad and it engulfs its docks. Sidapa springs into action. Using his own magic to try and dissipate the fog, he was unable to. He tried once again, but the fog only got thicker by the minute. Suddenly he hears a huge splash.

"Calista!" he exclaims.

He runs towards the fog but it was too thick for him to see. Even with his eyes that can see through the darkest of the dark was no match for it. He knows a god was behind this, and the more he thought about it he knew who it was.

Sidapa advanced himself through the blinding fog arming himself with his eldritch roots while trying to dissipate portions of the fog. Suddenly, he recalled his dream last night. The white mist enveloped the entire area devouring the view of the dock. The silhouettes were dancing and playing around him. Everything was precisely in his dream.

Frustrated and angry, he launched his roots to the nothingness, tearing through the white vapor covering his dock. He lashed on it swinging and stabbing the air giving him a short span of visibility.

Finally, the fog slowly subsides and his vision became more apparent. He shouted for Calista's name, he got no answer. He called her out again while smashing the roots to the ground making the ground shake to get her attention, but still no response. His heart anxiously pounded as he looked and called for her.

As the fog clears, he saw Calista hug a behemoth's shadow in front of her.

" Calista! What are you doing?" he shouted.

The dazed katabang finally realized who she was hugging. It was Buaya's snout. Calista stumbled as she found out about it, Buaya looked at her intently, before opening its gigantic maw as if to swallow her whole.

Sidapa acted quickly and bound the god beast's mouth with his eldritch roots. He commanded more and wrapped it along its body. Buaya struggles as the thick roots pin it down, mangling its body tightly.

Calista snapped out from being terrified and ran towards Sidapa. She hid behind him, scared and confused.

The death god then summoned spikes from the ground and attempted to impale Buaya, but it proved too weak against his sturdy exterior. Buaya breaks free from the hold by rolling over entangled roots, uprooting them.

Sidapa attempted to attack it again with another strong root but, the monster god was quick to dodge it and jumps back to the river, submerging into the murky waters.

Sidapa grabbed Calista by the arm and yanked her close to him. Their faces met each other, and their eyes connected.

" Inside. Now!" Sidapa commanded her.